haven't really watched many music videos since the early 80's on mtv... don't remember many either!! even tho i wasn't a michael jackson fan, i seem to remember some of his videos most(thriller, billy jean, etc)maybe they played them alot??? also remember a couple of genesis videos...(misunderstanding in particular) my kids showed me one a couple of years ago which was very cool (don't know if it was FF) that had the band in protective clothes and googles and it was a whole series of ball/s (i think)going on a mousetrap like course and ended with colorful paint getting dumped on all of them... very clever... i don't have time to search for it, but does it ring a bell with anyone?? it's a worthwhile view!!

I taught kindergarten for 22 years and the first day of school was as unnerving for the teachers as it was for the kids! Well, maybe not as bad but I could never sleep the night before. If anyone has a child who is anxious about leaving Mommy - a great story to read with them is The Kissing Hand. I think the author is Audrey Penn - at least Penn is the last name. After I retired, I would go back to do the Parent Breakfast (timed right after school started so that it would get the parents out of the classroom) and I would always read it to the parents. Tissues would always be passed around as grown men cried! Then we would do the Tooty Ta, an embarrasing song with motions, to lightened things up. Now I am having to sit at home as my 3 year old Grandson goes off to Preschool for the first time on Friday. I would love to tag along to see how it goes but I won't interfer with DIL and DS's moment. He has never had to go to daycare or a sitters other than his Oma (DIL's mom) and Nana's (me).DIL has taken him to playgroups, kindermusic, gymnastics etc so he has been under someone else's directions but mom has always been in sight. Will see how it goes. Just as bad was taking our son off to college. DH didn't talk to me 2/3rds of the way back. Each time I would try to say something, he would raise his hand as if to say "STOP." The first words out of his mouth when he could compose himself were, "It will never be the same!" He was right.

Thanks for all the thoughts and wishes about DS. He has a big choice, indeed many choices, ahead of him. I feel that, of the four of us, he is furthest on the artistic, feeling, performance end of the scale. Even more than DD. Turning to DD. When you last saw her, she was traveling in Europe, selling bread at French markets and picking organic vegetables in French hippie farms, and joining us for Christmas in Carpentras http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4350473/our-christmas-in-carpentras She did a little blogging during her travels, just a little. https://katemakesthings.wordpress.com After Carpentras, we went to Barcelona and spent New Years in Copenhagen, where we lived for almost a week in an apartment, cooking and walking around. Then DS and I returned to Portland to school and work, while DD and DW stayed in Europe, traveling in the Czech Republic and Poland, texting us sorrowfully about just how cold it was and how they just had to buy warm furry clothes and nip into little restaurants and eat excellent meals for very little money and how they just hadn't gotten around to buying return tickets yet and maybe they might come home in February but if not then for sure March. DS and I were not amused. DD did finally return to Portland, resumed school as an "online" student in the spring term, and in the summer returned to the camp in Tahoe. She now supervises the kitchen head and his assistants, the dining room, does the food ordering and menu planning, handles staffing training and scheduling, so she only gets in the kitchen for a few meals now and then. So different from her first summers, when she washed dishes and chopped veggies 12 hours a day. It isn't a great earning job, but in three months she does make enough to pay her own rent and some spending money for the school year, which she is very proud of. She is in her junior year, back at university, and working on degrees in journalism and in digital arts. Her minors will be in creative writing and fine art. She started as a fine art major (drawing, painting) but is having fun with digital media. Here's a recent stop action video https://vimeo.com/238725466 and an edgier mash-up https://vimeo.com/244992527 Next term she will edit a student design/architecture journal and in the summer she'll return to work at camp. The interesting thing about DD, to me, is that she thrives in two worlds. She is creative, visual, draws, writes. At the same time, she enjoys long days in a hot commercial kitchen, juggling staff crises and equipment failures. She creates things, but is practical with a head for numbers. Another thing about her is that, even if it takes awhile for her to create a career with this combination of writing, visual art, and cooking skills, she can take her knife roll and get work as a cook.

I love to dance, but prefer to do so solo. A crowded dance floor in a group is where I'm happy, or at a concert or music festival where others are bopping away to the music as well. Couples dancing is not my thing, even though I admire others who can dance well with a partner. DH and I took salsa lessons a few years ago in a group class where we were expected to change partners regularly during each lesson. I didn't care for that, as it placed me with all different levels of dancers (the good ones made me especially self-conscious, because I had a hard time getting the steps right and felt I was limiting their experience), and DH and I wanted to learn to salsa so that we could dance together, not with others. Anyway, I was a dropout, while he went on to complete the beginner's class, just to be able to say he had stuck it out.